Detecting, classifying and localizing minor amounts of an element within a sample of material

Minute amounts of material, such as a contaminant, are detected, identified and located using a single procedure that eliminates the need for using complex and sometimes redundant instrumentation setups, multiple (and sometimes overlapping) analytic processes, or both. In a preferred embodiment, a series of processing steps enables one to detect, identify, and localize minute amounts of particular elements, e.g., contaminants, in material being tested. Data sets, suitable for characterizing components of samples at least spectrally and spatially, are collected from at least one uncontaminated sample of material (the “baseline” or “control”) and a sample of material under test (MUT) that may contain contaminants. Comparison of these data sets, using the procedures of the present invention, enables ready identification of minute amounts of material in any sample. The use of existing conventional procedures may require that multiple sets of data be taken or multiple processes be applied.